Ahhh, the coaching change. That seems to be the big news of the day (or of two days ago – to paraphrase the immortal words of Professor Dave Jennings, I have a job, people). Let me stick my two cents in. Full disclosure – as an Islander fan, I hate Dale Hunter for the Turgeon hit (best line -after Hunter was hired and Kirk Muller, who skipped town on the Islanders, was hired in Carolina, someone on twitter posted, “Who’s hiring Darcy Tucker?”). Having said that, if Hunter coaches as he played, with a no bullshit approach, it seems to be the style that this teams need.

I’ve harped repeatedly in these pages, and by all accounts, at least two of you have listened (thanks, mom) about the lack of accountability that pervaded the Boudreau era. The Semin scratch was a little bit of too little, too late. And if I’m Joel Ward, scratched for oversleeping a special teams meeting (a first time transgression) – the whole act seems, I don’t know, a little bullshitty. Ward has to be thinking to himself, “Ovi is allergic to the defensive zone, Semin takes an average of one penalty in the offensive zone a period and nothing happens for years, and now all of a sudden, he’s brent sutter?”

I think Boudreau was also too much of a chameleon for his own good. His offensive style met with limited playoff success and all of a sudden there were rumblings here in town among the fan base. Keep in mind, he should get a pass for that first year as he took the worst team in the league and led them to a charge for the final playoff spot. The flameout the next year led to the change from uptempo Bruce to defensive zone Gabby. Now, all of a sudden, after letting the lunatics run the asylum for the better part of his tenure, he’s all about accountability. I wonder how the fan base would have reacted if they had a semblance of a professional football or basketball team to distract them. Let’s be honest – DC is not exactly Flim Flam, Saskatchewan when it comes to hockey. This town is desparate for a winner, and the fact that a charismatic young star was leading an exciting team distracted them from the depressive Groundhog Day-style Snyder era. Christmas, the Junkies (only one of which knows the first thing about hockey) spent multiple segments talking about it instead of the Deadskins.

So, now you have Dale Hunter. Early returns are a 2-1 loss to the Blues. Small sample size, so let’s wait and see what happens.